Zucchini Butter Pasta 

By Hetty Lui McKinnon

Published August 25, 2025

  • Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
40 minutes
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Rating
5(1,081)
Comments
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Make a dent in your glut of summer zucchini with this weeknight-friendly pasta. Grating the zucchini, a technique embraced by Julia Child, allows it to become so tender that it melts into the buttery, cheesy sauce. Cooking the zucchini with vegetable stock over low heat highlights the fruit’s sweetness and prevents it from caramelizing, giving the sauce a creamy rather than charred finish. Once the butter and Parmesan are added, give the mixture a good stir to encourage the zucchini to melt into the liquid. As always with zucchini, its mellow earthy flavor lays dormant until it is seasoned, so be generous with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings

  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving

  • 2 pounds zucchini (about 4 medium), coarsely grated

  • 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped 

  • Salt and pepper

  • 1 cup vegetable stock

  • ¼ cup unsalted butter

  • 1 pound fusilli or other short pasta 

  • 1 ½ cups finely grated Parmesan, plus more for serving 

  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice (from 2 lemons)

  • Big handful of basil leaves, torn

  • 1 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 to 6 servings)

67 grams carbs; 46 milligrams cholesterol; 680 calories; 9 grams monosaturated fat; 11 grams polyunsaturated fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 34 grams fat; 6 grams fiber; 804 milligrams sodium; 28 grams protein; 7 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat a large 12-inch skillet on medium-high. When hot, drizzle with the olive oil and add the zucchini and garlic. Season generously with salt and pepper and stir to combine.

  2. Step 2

    Add the stock, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the stock has reduced and the zucchini is very tender but not dry, 15 to 20 minutes. (There should still be a small amount of liquid.) Add the butter and stir until it is melted and zucchini has mostly broken down to form a thick, chunky sauce, about 2 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

  3. Step 3

    Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve 1½ cups of pasta cooking water, then drain.

  4. Step 4

    Add the drained pasta, Parmesan and lemon juice to the zucchini and stir to combine, adding some pasta cooking water to loosen it up. Taste and season again with salt and pepper.

  5. Step 5

    To serve, drizzle with olive oil, and top with more grated Parmesan, the basil leaves and walnuts.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
1,081 user ratings
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Comments

Robin

A tip that NYT should include with all pasta recipes that call for “reserved” pasta water… Don’t set aside some of the pasta water and drain the rest. Instead, use a slotted spoon, pasta server, tongs, etc, to grab the paste from the cooking water and add directly to the prepared sauce. Then you have all the pasta water you might need, and you haven’t dirtied a colander. You would still need a scoop or measurement cup to dip some water out, but you don’t risk not having enough water reserved if you need it. I make a lot of pasta dishes and this is one of the best pasta cooking tips I’ve learned!

Ally Draizin

I usually hate it when folks review a recipe and stray from it, but I did modify this a smidge- I added 3 smooshed up anchovies to the sauce, and I used some leftover miso butter instead of plain butter. It was STUPENDOUS! 10/10 highly recommend.

Cheryle Andrews

I had an abundance of yellow summer squash in the garden and used it instead of the zucchini. I also used 6 cloves of garlic in the half-recipe and added three sliced large mushrooms.Mushrooms were a great addition. Otherwise we really enjoyed this recipe.

CK

This was really tasty, but I couldn't get it to turn into anything like a sauce that coated the pasta, no matter how much pasta water I added. The only change I made was adding lemon zest to the zucchini, so I must have made a technical error, maybe not cooking down the zucchini enough or adding the cheese too soon. Regardless, though it wasn't too time intensive and did taste nice, probably won't bother to figure out where I went wrong. There are other veggie-forward pasta dishes.

Simon

Very clever and delicious way to get rid of a mountain of zucchini. Will make again next time I’m buried deep in an avalanche of zucchini overstock like I was last weekend!

Maggie Sennish

Don't need to shred and then wring out /dry out the zucchini? Most z recipes advise this as it can be so soupy? Thanks

Eline

@Maggie Sennish i don’t think so, since it’s meant to soften in the stock anyway i reckon you’d just have to compensate for the water from the zucchini with more water. i made it as written without wringing and it turned out beautifully!

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